Paul Weston / Crescent City Suite
$15.00Price
Shortly after this recording was made in 1957, Paul Weston's CRESCENT CITY SUITE was premiered in New Orleans in conjunction with the Crescent City Concerts Association, with Weston conducting the Summer Pops Orchestra, and bringing with him from Hollywood the jazz musicians featured in the album, Eddie Miller, Matty Matlock, Nick Fatool, Dick Cathcart, Ted Nash, and Zeke Zarchy; all former Big Band star soloists, made a major contribution to the success of the premiere.
Reviews of the concert and the Columbia album were most complimentary:
"There is no doubt that Crescent City Suite is as much a part of Musical America as anything that was ever conceived by a Gershwin or a Walter Piston. by a Grofe or a Hoagy Carmichael."
"Here is the Queen City of the Mississippi in all of her faces and facets: the Creole songs. the riverboat calliope. the spirituals. the blues of the bayous. and New Orleans jazz. This should rank in American music along with Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite."
"Weston has smoothly poured some native elements into the popular mold for a spacious and gentle tone poem."
"Paul Weston, gifted conductor-composer-arranger has given us a superb LP in Crescent City. It's a vivid portrait of a vivid city; New Orleans, using both folk tunes and outstanding original themes."
Through the years the work has been performed in whole or in part by Andre Kostelanetz with the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the Hollywood Bowl, Pops orchestras in Atlanta and Los Angeles, and repeatedly by the New Orleans Summer Pops Orchestra which premiered it in 1957.
The Crescent City Suite was also featured as the background music for the award-winning television show MAIN STREET: NEW ORLEANS.
It was also performed at the opening of the New Orleans Superdome.
Details
CRESCENT CITY
VIEUX CARRE
RIVERFRONT BLUES
STORYVILLE
BAYOU ST. JOHN
HIGH SOCIETY
CREOLE SONGS & DANCES
MISS LUCY
FERRYBOAT TO ALGIERS
ESPLANADE AT SUNSET
NOBODY KNOWS THE TROUBLE I'VE SEEN
MARDI GRAS